Precious gem held hidden meaning at the Golden Globes

You may have noticed a sprinkling of emerald amid the sea of black at last night’s Golden Globes. A handful of actresses went with the green jewel when accessorizing, and it may not have been a coincidence.

The fact that it is one of the most stunning gems is reason enough to rock it to an awards show, but we have a feeling it has something to do with the Time’s Up movement.

“The lush green color of emeralds stands out and blends with black beautifully,” jewelry expert Marion Fasel told Yahoo Style. With everyone wearing black last night, it was the perfect time for emerald to shine. The stars were in the somber color in support of the Time’s Up movement and the women who have spoken up about their own experience of sexual assault, harassment, and gender inequality.

“Designer Lorraine Schwartz, who did the jewelry for Debra, Catherine, and Zoë, always works closely with stylists and loves the combination,” Fasel explained of one reason emerald was the go-to jewel of the night. “She has a great history of putting emerald jewels on stars wearing black. She was responsible for the pear-shaped emerald earrings Angelina Jolie wore to the Oscars with a black dress in 2009.” Messing thanked Schwartz on Instagram for her emerald mastery, writing, “@lorraineschwartz NO ONE does emeralds like you .”

But is that the only reason? Emeralds have a history as a favorite gem of women in power, dating all the way back to Cleopatra. “Reportedly, Cleopatra adorned herself and her palace with emeralds and also gave them as gifts to foreign dignitaries. Most likely, she intended this as a display of wealth and power,” says the International Gem Society. “The Archbishop Rabanus Maurus of Mainz (786-856 CE) wrote about the significance of the 12 apocalyptic gems. ‘In the emerald is expressed the strength of faith in adversity,’ he said.”

Fasel confirms these claims. “Historically speaking, emeralds were a stone of power.”

You cannot deny the parallel here — these actresses, including Harvey Weinstein accuser Ashley Judd, are banding together to fight unjust conditions, and what better jewel to do so with than an emerald? Especially since, in the crystal world, emerald also represents justice, compassion, and harmony.

Zeta-Jones’s stylist, Kelly Johnson, confirmed the theory. “I worked directly with Lorraine Schwartz on creating these one-of-a-kind earrings for Catherine,” Johnson told Yahoo Style. “We loved the message of unity that the emeralds represent, and they also enhanced the drama of the whole look.”

We’ve reached out to the other actress’s stylists in addition to Time’s Up for further clarification but have not received responses as of publication.